IUSD Board of Education approves location of district’s fifth comprehensive high school

It’s official: Barring delays, the Irvine Unified School District will open a brand new state-of-the-art high school near the northeast border of the Orange County Great Park in 2016.

The IUSD Board of Education on Tuesday night unanimously passed a resolution selecting the site of the district’s fifth comprehensive high school and allowing ownership of the property to be transferred from developer Heritage Fields to IUSD.

Escrow is now on track to close within five business days, and construction could begin next month.

Timing has been critical for the project, as IUSD needs to open a fifth high school by the start of the 2016-17 school year to accommodate thousands of new homes while preventing overcrowding at Irvine, Northwood, University and Woodbridge high schools.